Boulevard Zon

By John & Dad on March 18, 2008 @ 8 PM (No Comments)

Zon is another offering from the Boulevard Brewing Company in Kansas City, where Father Beer Love went purchase happy on his latest trip to see Grandma and Uncle Beer Love. It should be noted that like many of the beers from that Missouri trip, we may have waited to long to review this one. This was originally reviewed on January 31, 2008 and the bottle showed a best by date of November 1, 2007. That could definitely affect the rating and we’re willing to concede that point.

This review is another from our Thursday phone reviews. Boulevard calls this their “interpretation of a classic Belgian witbier.” Zon, by the way, is Flemish for “Sun.” We served this 4.4% ABV brew up in an American pint glass. Beer temperature was about 41 F at the onset for the 12 oz bottle.

The initial pour produced at large 2 1/2″ frothy white head that dissipated quickly but left excellent lacing. The beer seemed to have little carbonation and was a hazy straw color.

Initial aromas were wheat, coriander and citrus – specifically grapefruit, orange and lemon zest. It’s a good medley of citrus aromas and a very good clean smell. The initial flavors were a light sweet and a light tart, with the sweetness the more predominant of the two. The taste wasn’t as complex as the smell, sadly, and there was virtually no body lacing as it was consumed. The finish flavor was again light sweet and light tart, but added a dimension of light bitter, with the hops showcasing themselves most prominently. The finish was rather short in duration and the mouthfeel was actually somewhat dry.

The main issue with this beer is it just doesn’t have a great balance. It may edge a little toward the malt side on a malt to hop scale, but the balance feels more out of whack than that. It is repeatable and is drinkable, but it’s not memorable, has no wow factor and we probably wouldn’t buy it again. Overall it’s no Hoegaarden. It may compare fairly favorable with a Blue Moon, but the advantage would have to go to the Blue Moon. It could be a good summer beer and a triple digit day may have us giving this thing several bonus points. It may be a little too hoppy for a witbier, but it might be a good fit for a hophead (neither Father nor Son Beer Love fancy themselves a hophead). Worth a try, but there are other good Belgian style wheats to choose from first.